Side note: If you don't have CC, check out Adobe CC for photographers, it's a great deal at $9.99/mo. Opening it as a smart object gives you the freedom to edit in Camera Raw and then go back into Camera Raw later if you need to. The original photo is unaffected and remains as a separate file in the LR catalog. This not only opens the photo in PS, it also ensures that when you save your final edit in PS, you will get a new file in your LR catalog reflecting your PS edits. From Lightroom, you want to right click> edit in> open as a smart object in Photoshop (if you have a version before CC, you may have to choose edit in Photoshop). Step 2: Open the photo in Photoshop the RIGHT WAY If you really want to change the exposure in LR, you can, but in reality this can be done once we take the photo over to PS. If you change your mind about how you edit the photo, at least you can always start over. Any changes you make after this will be non-destructive. This insures you have the original photo protected on the computer. Step 1: Import the photo into Lightroom as you normally would Scroll down to see the develop settings and find most of your develop tools across the top. If you utilize the process I outline below, you will find it protects and catalogs your original photo and also allows you to utilize all the powerful tools in PS. For my work, a good sign I'll be working PS is when I plan on using layer masks. Maybe you want to utilize some of the more powerful editing tools in PS. Now let's consider a scenario where you will be using PS. It seems I find myself in PS when I have to remove anything complex. It works well to remove spots out of a flat sky, but in many cases I have found it does a poor job on anything with detail. I am not a fan of the spot removal tool in LR. Let me put in one caveat to that statement. Lightroom may be all you need to edit the photo to your liking. This is just the tip of the iceberg as there is a lot more image information retained in a RAW file. Similarly, your ability to recover areas that are blown out or too dark is much better with a RAW photo. Your numbers next to your temperature slider now display Kelvin and give you much better control over White Balance. If you haven't edited a RAW file in LR before, you will notice some differences. While Photoshop can be utilized for many different reasons, LR is designed for photo editing and management, and it does a fantastic job! For the majority of my RAW photos, I do all of my editing in LR and only go into Photoshop for minor work. For this reason, and many others, I always start by importing my files (RAW or jpg) into LR. This also protects hard drive space because you aren't writing a new file or adding layers when you edit in LR. You can come back to a photo 2 years from now and start all over in just one click (The Reset button). Any changes you make in LR are not written onto the original photo.
The fantastic thing about LR is its ability to do non-destructive editing without having to worry about layers. Photoshop will provide you with some further tools you can use after the fact, but in many cases this won't be necessary. To be clear, the camera raw engine is not better or different in one or the other.
I generally only go into using ACR in Photoshop if I need to do something that is overly complex and requires me to be able to work on individual parts of a photo very precisely. As a general rule, I do the majority of my work on RAW files in Lightroom. Shooting in RAW is an assumption that you will do some work in post, so, should you use Lightroom, Photoshop, both? Hopefully this article will help you utilize the power of RAW and develop a workflow that will manage the photo editing process smoothly. Editing can be a lot of fun, but having a solid workflow can help that process stay fun, instead of becoming a burden. The power of shooting RAW is unleashed when you get to the digital darkroom, and for most of us, that means using Lightroom (LR) or Photoshop (PS). You've probably heard enough photographers talk about RAW that you realize it’s a pretty powerful tool in the digital photographer's tool bag.